"How? Mr. Arad, what are you thinking about? Zhang Bowen looked calmly at the chairman and CEO of Marvel Comics at the moment.

If you want to buy Marvel Comics, first level Avi Arad and put him on the table, so that he can better settle the board of directors of Marvel Comics.

It's important who the person is talking to.

Secondly, Marvel does not have much bargaining power now, and the initiative is in the hands of Bluestar Technology Group.

"$1.5 billion is too low, and although Marvel is currently facing difficulties and does need external support, even if I can accept selling myself at such a low price, I can't convince Marvel's shareholders." Avi Arad said helplessly.

Through the interview, Zhang Bowen also confirmed that Marvel Comics Company did intend to find an owner to sell him, so the other party did not say a word from beginning to end that he was not considering selling.

Finding an owner is equivalent to buying you an insurance, so that even if "Iron Man" fails miserably at the box office, the company will not go bankrupt.

Marvel's company is really miserable now, and no one cares about its intention to sell itself.

Only Luo Sheng knew that in just one year, the box office explosion of "Iron Man" turned the Marvel Company on the verge of life and death overnight, so it was too early to miss this point in time, and waiting for the release of "Iron Man" a month later would be another situation.

At that time, even if Marvel Company also needs to recognize its godfather, many people will throw an olive branch to Marvel, and the acquisition price will increase significantly.

Zhang Bowen raised a finger: "OK, I'll add another $100 million, $1.6 billion." ”

Avi Arad returned the price: "$2 billion, at least that, otherwise I won't be able to convince the board." ”

Hearing this, Zhang Bowen smiled inwardly, as soon as the other party counteroffered, he knew that it could definitely be lower than $2 billion, and he put away his thoughts and replied quietly: "What I have to say is that there is only less than a month left, and the release date of "Iron Man" is set for early May. ”

When he said this, Arad's face changed slightly, and he couldn't help but glance at the people of Merrill Lynch, and scolded him in his heart.

Damn Wall Street!

After a while, Zhang Bowen added: "Once the insurance period is over, at that time, once "Iron Man" fails at the box office, Marvel Company may really be worthless, and the valuable IP characters are basically gone." ”

Zhang Bowen played the open card, and directly turned over the hole cards to play, this kind of yang conspiracy negotiation strategy is the most helpless and helpless for the other party.

Because, Marvel Comics does not have much confidence in the success of "Iron Man", and cannot afford to lose, once the box office fails and the first-line IP characters are gone, the value of Marvel Comics may be less than 700 million US dollars, and it is not even the lower limit.

"We need to have a good internal discussion, this is too big, and it is a matter of life and death for the company." Instead of continuing to bargain, Avi Allad responded with such a response.

"No problem, I'll stay here for about two or three days, only three days." Zhang Bowen said, and immediately got up, and Arad also quickly got up, and the two sides shook hands, and this meeting was over.

The first meeting did not reach much substantive consensus, and M&A deals involving more than a billion dollars could not be negotiated in a few words.

But one thing is certain, it won't be long.

Regardless of whether the M&A deal is successful or not, it will end before the release of the "Iron Man" movie, so there are actually just over ten days left.

But the most anxious is obviously not Bluestar Technology Group, but Marvel Comics Company.

For them, if they want to sell themselves and don't want to take the huge risk of the fiasco of "Iron Man", it is best to facilitate this transaction before the release of the film, which is equivalent to buying an insurance for themselves, and even if the movie fails miserably, there will be a new owner, Bluestar Technology Group, to cover it.

The meaning of the film is completely different after the release of the film.

Marvel Comics certainly doesn't dare to bet that the "Iron Man" movie will be 100% successful, this is the rhythm of gambling on the life of the family, there can be a more relaxed way out, no one wants to bet everything.

……

Zhang Bowen's hotel, in the middle of the night, he was in contact with Luo Sheng in China on a satellite phone line.

"Invest $550 million in cash for the merger, and the remaining funds will be cross-held with shares of Bluestar Technology Group to complete the merger." On the other side of the communicator, Luo Sheng's voice came.

"Understood!" Zhang Bowen nodded in response, and the communication ended quickly.

It is a stupid decision to buy all with cash, take the current Bluestar Technology shares cross-shareholding, and use the cash freed up here to buy back the company's shares in the second half of the year.

On the one hand, the shares of Blue Star Technology held by Marvel Comics can be hedged through the repurchase of this fund, not to mention, you can buy more shares, of course, you will earn more, because Luo Sheng expects that the shares of Blue Star Technology will plummet further, far from the time to buy the bottom.

At the same time, a more critical point is that all the cash mergers and acquisitions, the core layer of Marvel Animation may cash out, maybe the Marvel Universe plan will change or even mess up, and this billion-dollar investment may be wasted and become a non-performing asset.

Cross-shareholding, tying Marvel Comics to the chariot of Bluestar Technology Group, and indirectly tying the core layer together, they have their own vital interests in order to do their best to make Marvel Studios bigger and stronger.

Now the stock market as a whole is falling seriously, and the market value of Bluestar Technology is also falling, but this is not important to Marvel, the important thing is to rely on a large group, and at least the working capital can be in place.

The market value of the stock is the most important thing when you want to cash out and get out of the market, but if you want to continue to make achievements in the Marvel career, the fluctuation of the stock market value has no effect.

……

At the same time, Avi Arad also held a meeting with the board of directors of Marvel Comics to discuss the merger and acquisition of the company by Bluestar Technology Group, and most of the shareholders agreed to sell themselves to Bluestar Technology, find a thigh to hold, and enjoy the shade under the big tree, perfect hedging risks.

The only problem is the issue of the merger and acquisition price, most shareholders feel that the price of Bluestar Technology is a little lower, if it can be higher, this matter can quickly reach a consensus.

You must know that Marvel Comics is also very anxious, and they all hope to find a new owner before the release of "Iron Man", and transfer the potential risks to Bluestar Technology Group, with a large group to cover it, so that Marvel Comics Company does not have to face the existential crisis of bankruptcy and liquidation.

……

The day after Zhang Bowen met with the head of Marvel Comics, the media suddenly published a news and caused a stir in the industry.

The New Yorker didn't know where to hear the news, and the article reported that the global executive vice president of Bluestar Technology Group was in talks with the CEO of Marvel Comics about a merger.

Zhang Bowen saw the report of "The New Yorker" that morning, and he didn't think much about it, it must be the rumors released by Wall Street, the purpose is very simple, in order to pull the surprise stock.

Sure enough, after the news broke, Marvel's stock rose in response, reaching a market capitalization of $2.9 billion.

I'm afraid not only Wall Street, but some shareholders of Marvel Comics must have secretly leaked this news to the media, which is normal, once a company merges and acquisitions of another listed company, even if the listed company is currently in a bad situation, the stock will rise against the trend, because someone buys it will definitely rise, which is the basic law of the market.

But it is also risky, because Bluestar Technology may not buy it, so for some people who speculate in stocks, it will be miserable to encounter this situation.

Risks and benefits go hand in hand.

After this incident was exposed, there was also a lot of uproar in Hollywood, and the offer of $1.6 billion was decent, even a little low, but there was no way, the situation of Marvel Comics was there.

As the saying goes, good things are grinding, and after the acquisition was exposed, other related things also surfaced at the same time.

On the same day, two other incidents related to Marvel Comics were also reported by the Los Angeles Journal, the New York Times, and The Hollywood Reporter.

One is that a copyright statement has caused a new wave in the acquisition case, and the other is that Disney suddenly came in and intervened.

……

()

Chinese Net